


The End

by chuckisgod



Series: Watch Mark Watney Live [4]
Category: The Martian (2015), The Martian - All Media Types, The Martian - Andy Weir
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-28 01:37:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20055928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chuckisgod/pseuds/chuckisgod
Summary: This is the last scene of Everything After and I really like it, but I don't think I'm ever going to complete it, so here it is for you to enjoy. Obviously not going to be as amazing on it's own, but better that than languish on my computer.





	The End

Mark Watney  
261 Days After Rescue

My breath catches in my throat.

“When… when I first realized what had happened, that I was there alone, I was sure it was over. And,” a dry laugh escapes me, “There are a lot of ways to end a life on a NASA base. So… I stood there, looking out the window and Mars, knowing it was the end, and I asked… what was the fucking point?”  
My fingers tighten around the podium. Even drugged up and this long in therapy, it’s still hard to think about. The sharp corners of the podium ground me.

“What was the fucking point?”

The entire room, 500 people, is dead silent.

“I worked my whole life to go to Mars.” I heave a sigh.

My next words are quiet. “Did I come here just to die?”

I let the question hang in the air.

“This is an important question. Because sure, I made it back, but not everyone makes it back. Other people go to war or become scientific explorers, and they don’t make it back. I shouldn’t have made it back. This question matters for the people who don’t make it back just as much as the ones who do. So I ask you - what was the fucking point?”

The speech has the effect I wanted. Everyone is completely still in their seats, feeling a tiny fraction of what I felt on Sol 6.

“On Sol 549, right before I was launched into space in a convertible, I finally got the fucking point. You never give up. You do everything you can.” I put my hands on the podium. “That’s it.”

I take a deep breath. “What I’m about to share with you, I’ve never shared with anyone else.” Noises of disbelief rise from the audience. “I’m serious! Not even the crew. I tried to tell them, when they picked me up, but they were too busy running around like chickens with their heads cut off.” I shrug, a carefully practiced motion. The joke sets the crowd at ease.

“If my convertible had exploded, I would have died happy. If I had died even a day earlier, I would have died a miserable bastard. But sitting in that convertible, I’d achieved my goal: to do everything I can to get home. If it worked, then great, but if it didn’t work, then okay. But I was happy. I never gave up.”  
I out look at the crowd. “What's the fucking point?”

The crowd waits.

“Never give up. That’s the fucking point.”


End file.
